Author Topic: Release: Birthdays (simple birthday tracking app) (Read 93651 times)

skwire · « **on:** March 16, 2011, 01:03 AM »

Name	Birthdays
Short Description	A simple, straightforward app to help keep track of birthdays. Use the menu entries or toolbar buttons to add or delete birthdays. The checkboxes are there to track whether or not you have sent a gift or card to said person for that year.
Supported OSes	All Windows
Website:	http://skwire.dcmembers.com/fp/?page=birthdays
Download Link	Download
Author	Jody Holmes - Skwire Empire

Release: Birthdays (simple birthday tracking app)

mouser · « **Reply #1 on:** March 16, 2011, 03:48 PM »

Very nice, and clever idea with the checkboxes.

timns · « **Reply #2 on:** March 16, 2011, 03:56 PM »

I wanna be like Granpa Pete and have 2 birthdays a year!

Also, I see the sex-change went well for him. Her.

mouser · « **Reply #3 on:** March 16, 2011, 03:59 PM »

you have good eyes.

skwire · « **Reply #4 on:** March 16, 2011, 04:04 PM »

A little background on this app... My wife's grandmother has had a cloth version of this magneted to her refrigerator for time immemorial.

It has twelve clear pockets (one for each month) and within each pocket is a paper card with all family children's and grandchildren's names and day handwritten on them. Each month, she checks it, writes out birthday cards and sends them out. She's never missed one in the eighteen years I've known her.

My wife asked if I could make a software version of it and what you see is what I came up with. She uses the checkboxes to mark off who she has sent cards or gifts to for the year. She also prefers to-the-point apps that aren't complicated with all manner of bells and whistles. As such, there is no complicated scheduler or anything like that in this app (nor will I add one

).

I wanna be like Granpa Pete and have 2 birthdays a year! Also, I see the sex-change went well for him. Her.
-timns (March 16, 2011, 03:56 PM)

Actually, their last name is Peterson, hence, the Grandma and Grandpa Pete.

timns · « **Reply #5 on:** March 16, 2011, 04:16 PM »

Actually, their last name is Peterson, hence, the Grandma and Grandpa Pete.
-skwire (March 16, 2011, 04:04 PM)

Damn, I hate those perfectly reasonable explanations

zzynx · « **Reply #6 on:** March 17, 2011, 05:56 AM »

Nice little app!

Request: An <Edit> button in the toolbar would be nice. Now, if I made an error I have to create a duplicate and delete the previous.

Issues:
[1]
And with trying to correct an entry I found another issue:
Scenario:
1. Press the "Add Birthday" button
2. Fill in "Name", "Dec" and "10"
3. Entry is created correctly
4. Now I realize I've spelled the name incorrectly. So, I select the entry in the calendar (but there's no edit, so that selection was in vain)
5. I press the "Add Birthday" button again
6. I fill in: "Corrected name", "Dec" and "10"
7. The new entry is created. (The old one is still shown selected)
8. I press the "Delete birthday" button
And guess which one is deleted... the last one I added <= Bug

[2]
Also, don't let the user enter non-digits ("abc") or invalid numbers ("300") in the day spinner text box.

My 2 cent...

skwire · « **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2011, 03:01 AM »

Thanks for the feedback, zzynx; Give this version a try.

Website | Download v1.0.1 - 2011-03-18 + Added a "Delete" key hotkey to delete an entry. + Added a "Ctrl-N" hotkey to add a new entry. + Added right-click context menu to the listviews. * Changed a few toolbar icons. + Added entry edit functionality. (Thanks, zzynx) ! Fixed a delete entry bug. (Thanks, zzynx)

Release: Birthdays (simple birthday tracking app)

zzynx · « **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2011, 04:54 AM »

Hi skwire,
very quick ànd useful update.

Can I do some more suggestions?

1. Don't enable the "Edit birthday" and "Delete birthday" buttons and (main and right-click) menu items if no birthday is selected.
(That's better than letting the user click/choose it and then saying "Please select a birthday to edit")
2. Make the button tooltips correspond the menu item texts ("birthday" vs. "entry")
3. Make the 'Day' columns by default as narrow as possible (to display the "Day" header). That way more space can be used for the name.
4. I don't know if AHK allowst it, but it would be great to be able to resize/maximize the application.
5. I was rather surprised that pressing ESC exits the application

skwire · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2011, 10:27 AM »

Can I do some more suggestions?
1. Don't enable the "Edit birthday" and "Delete birthday" buttons and (main and right-click) menu items if no birthday is selected.
(That's better than letting the user click/choose it and then saying "Please select a birthday to edit")
2. Make the button tooltips correspond the menu item texts ("birthday" vs. "entry")
3. Make the 'Day' columns by default as narrow as possible (to display the "Day" header). That way more space can be used for the name.
4. I don't know if AHK allowst it, but it would be great to be able to resize/maximize the application.
-zzynx (March 18, 2011, 04:54 AM)

All done in the latest update.

5. I was rather surprised that pressing ESC exits the application
-zzynx (March 18, 2011, 04:54 AM)

That's how I like apps to work. Moreover, using escape calls the same routine as exiting the app so everything is saved, etc.

Website | Download v1.0.2 - 2011-03-18 + Made the form resizable. (Thanks, zzynx) * Enabled/disabled toolbar icons as necessary. (Thanks, zzynx) * Changed menu item text to match tooltips. (Thanks, zzynx) ! Temp directory wasn't getting deleted.

zzynx · « **Reply #10 on:** March 18, 2011, 10:42 AM »

Great job!

(Btw, very handy that the month is already prefilled according to which month's table you last clicked on)

That's how I like apps to work.

That's a valid argument.

Moreover, using escape calls the same routine as exiting the app so everything is saved, etc.

Except for the position/size.

Those are not saved when I exit the app with Esc while they are when I exit via the menu or via the upper right close button.

skwire · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2011, 10:48 AM »

Helps when I uncomment certain lines of code, eh?

Website | Download v1.0.3 - 2011-03-18 ! Size & position weren't saved under some circumstances. (Thanks, zzynx)

zzynx · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2011, 11:32 AM »

Helps when I uncomment certain lines of code, eh?

Thanks for the quick update.

Btw, I browsed around in Skwire Empire and I can't wait to let CoverArt Ops process my quite huge music library...

Would you know if a similar application exists for checking the bitrates? (BitRate Ops)

skwire · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2011, 11:39 AM »

Keep in mind that CovArt Ops does NOT download covers or anything like that. It simply shows you which folders do/don't have art in them (as well as their "quality" for lack of a better term). My PlayTime app will show you the bitrates of your audio files.

PhilB66 · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2011, 11:58 AM »

Excellent little helper. Kudos to grandma Marlene. Love the icons. Wish they were pop out cake style icons, though

A request (or two)...

1. add to the right-click menu a check/uncheck all just for a specific month.
2. would love to add a comment/note by double clicking on a particular birthday. Is that possible?

Cheers,

Phil

skwire · « **Reply #15 on:** March 18, 2011, 03:02 PM »

1. add to the right-click menu a check/uncheck all just for a specific month.
2. would love to add a comment/note by double clicking on a particular birthday. Is that possible?
-PhilB66 (March 18, 2011, 11:58 AM)

For sure.
Hmmm...I'm trying to keep the listviews very simple but, yes, I could do this. There are two schools of thought:
- Store the data (single line only) in a hidden listview column and then display the data in the status bar or edit field at the bottom of the main dialog when said birthday is highlighted.
- Provide one popup (pop out cake?! =) generic edit field where you can keep notes on all the birthdays. Think a basic notepad-style window.

mouser · « **Reply #16 on:** March 18, 2011, 03:13 PM »

I think having ability to make notes is great, BUT i would like to suggest a much simpler more flexible solution. Instead of giving each entry it's own note, which has some logic but i think would be messy and hard to spot at a glance, can i suggest something much simpler and more straightforward:

A single memo box on the main screen, just a notepad area where one could write whatever notes one wants to keep about birthdays; this might be used to keep general notes and updates and news, and/or a list of addresses, etc.

Whatever minor advantage would be lost by not having a separate note for each entry i think would be made up for by the advantages from simplicity.

PhilB66 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 18, 2011, 11:44 PM »

@skwire

The generic notepad-like method to keep notes would work for me. Thanks.

tomos · « **Reply #18 on:** March 19, 2011, 03:28 AM »

Excellent little helper. Kudos to grandma Marlene. Love the icons.
-PhilB66 (March 18, 2011, 11:58 AM)

+1 (for each)

and adding notes would be great, be it pop up or part of the main window

skwire · « **Reply #19 on:** March 19, 2011, 10:47 PM »

Here are the two choices.

Integrated:

Release: Birthdays (simple birthday tracking app)

Separate (popup is complete resizable and positionable):

Release: Birthdays (simple birthday tracking app)

mouser · « **Reply #20 on:** March 19, 2011, 10:52 PM »

Integrated!

PhilB66 · « **Reply #21 on:** March 19, 2011, 11:46 PM »

What happens to the main application when the popup window gets focus? Does it stay on top?

Also, could you offer the option to add background image to both the Birthdays app and the notes window?

mouser · « **Reply #22 on:** March 19, 2011, 11:56 PM »

hahaha phil what makes you want background images?

oblivion · « **Reply #23 on:** March 20, 2011, 08:06 AM »

Another suggestion, hopefully not too complex -- how about the option to store a start year, so that it's easier to keep track of birthdays where the age matters -- kids' and ones ending in 0 in particular? (So I'd be asking for an on-the-fly age calculation too, of course!)

mouser · « **Reply #24 on:** March 20, 2011, 03:43 PM »

hmm thats a pretty good idea actually.